Energy Efficiency

Mission: Provide residents and businesses with information on energy efficiencies in new and existing buildings in order to save money & reduce dependence on non-renewable energy sources. Goals:

Individual & Corporate Action Can Start to Shift the Climate Change Battle:

Educate people on how to integrate energy efficient upgrades and renovations in existing structures;

Provide information on energy/cost saving practices. Actions - Introduction of Elevate Energy programs to residents
Encourage the city & schools to cut fossil fuel energy use in their buildings to quickly decrease greenhouse gas emissions. EEC confirmed support for Energy Benchmarking in Public & Multi Unit Buildings
Promote the development of local businesses & services in the community & encourage local walking, local shopping; EEC collaboration with Chambers of Commerce & Public Officials on GoEdgewater local community tours
Work with developers & public officials to encourage building LEED certified developments. (collaborate with Planning & Development); EEC Guidelines published. Plus volunteers do ongoing consulting work with public officials
Work with non profit groups, government and lending institutions to create pools and funding vehicles for residents and businesses to implement energy efficient changes. Voted support for State's Clean Jobs Bill which was passed.

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Elevate Energy provides free energy evaluations for homeowners & businesses. To access details on their services go to:
http://www.elevateenergy.org/

In addition, Elevate Energy recently published research reports. The following include links for reference and as a resource as all of us consider issues relating to energy and sustainability in our communities.

Chicago Energy Insecurity factsheet: Nearly 90 percent of lower-income homeowners in Chicago report being energy insecure, or being without access to affordable and reliable energy sources to heat and power their homes.
Chicago Energy Insecurity Report: Energy Insecurity Among Chicago Homeowners: A Picture of Families Struggling to Keep Up --- This white paper details the results of a survey and qualitative interviews with lower-income Chicago homeowners.

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Greenhouse Gas/Carbon Offsetting: (By Renee Patten, EEC Project Lead) Details from a meeting of the Global Congress for Climate Change & Sustainability Professionals.

A. General Info: Chicago Focused
   1) CMAP's (Chicago Metropolitan Agency of Planning) 2015 greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory
69% of the region's GHG emissions are from energy use (38% of that is from residences, 34% is commercial and the rest is industry). Then 29% of the GHG emissions regionally are from transportation uses. 84% of those transportation emissions are from "on-road" - emissions coming out of tailpipes. Lastly, waste emissions account for 3% (such as emissions from landfills)

   2) The Greenest Region Compact (GRC): promotes sustainability in Chicago communities across the region. To date, 128 communities have adopted the GRC to improve quality of life for more than 6 million residents. The GRC Framework is the companion document that provides objectives, strategies, and tools to help communities address goals of the GRC. It cover's climate, land use, energy, water, waste & recycling and more.

B) Personal carbon offsetting.
   1) A carbon offset is a reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for emissions made elsewhere. You can offset plane travel, events, household or office emissions. You can also pay a monthly
to offset the emissions from your household. Two legitimate sources are Terrapass and Carbon Fund. Carbon Fund says, “reduce what you can, offset what you can’t.”

2) For carbon offsetting, you participate in a voluntary market, purchasing carbon offsets to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from event operations. Offsets support projects that reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. Project types can include renewable energy, energy efficiency, fishery, and forestry projects.